A MAJOR national laundry company and one of its subcontractors have been fined for gas installation failures that could have caused multiple deaths in York student accommodation.

Julian Franklin, prosecuting, for the Health and Safety Executive, said for 18 months students living at The Boulevard accommodation on Hull Road were exposed to the risk of dying from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas-fired tumble dryers in its two laundries.

Exhaust flues from the dryers sent toxic fumes into the entrance porches of the two biggest buildings on the five-building site, from where they could re-enter the residences.

The dryers operated for 18 months from their installation in September 2012 until a maintenance engineer spotted the danger and alerted his organisation, he told York magistrates.

Circuit Laundrette Services Ltd, the company responsible for the laundries, failed to spot the danger despite having to do a gas safety check on the tumble dryers every 12 months by law. It also didn't carry out a commissioning check when they were installed as was its usual practice.

Direct Laundry Installation Ltd that actually installed the tumble dryers did not have legal gas fitter registration at the time.

Chairman of the bench Hilary Fairwood said: "This is an appalling set of circumstances. We feel that both companies are equally culpable. Neither company has fulfilled their duty and there was considerable potential for harm in that multiple fatalities could have occurred."

More than 120 University of York students live on the site during term time.

Circuit Laundrette Services Ltd, of Ripponden, near Halifax, pleaded guilty to failure to ensure the safety of people not in its employment and was fined £13,000 with £970 prosecution costs. Its solicitor Richard Clarke said it operated student accommodation laundries for 123 of the 129 top universities in the UK serving 520,000 students.

It was remorseful about the failure of its procedures and had taken steps to ensure there wouldn't be a repeat. It wasn't clear who had done what at the time.

Direct Laundry Installations Ltd, of Halifax, pleaded guilty to failure to install the dryers safely and not having the proper registration.

It was fined £12,000 with £935 prosecution costs.

Its director Colin Marsh said it didn't design the installation and had followed plans provided through the other company. It had informed Circuit Laundrette Services that its fitters' registration had accidentally lapsed and had employed registered fitters to oversee work until it could be restored, but had no record that this had been done.